Teacher persistence in the use of curriculum-based telementoring as an instructional practice

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Abstract

This study examined the experiences of six teachers who continued using
curriculum-based telecomputing as an instructional activity over several years.
Each teacher conducted three or more telementoring projects through the
Electronic Emissary, a service that matches K –12 teachers and students with
subject matter experts using electronic mail. Participants worked in both urban
and rural elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States, with a
wide range of student populations. Because obstacles to the use of technology and
telecomputing in the classroom are often cited in literature, this study focused on
teachers who have been successful in their use of such tools and sustained that use
over a substantial period of time.
Constructivist inquiry was employed as the research strategy for this study
as it provided a process for understanding persistence with educational
telecomputing by seeking the perspectives of the participants about their lived
experiences. Telephone interviews were conducted over a two-year period.
Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded using a constant comparative
method, summarized by the researcher, then reviewed by participants. Other
sources of data included logs of participants’ electronic communications,
participant-authored project summaries, and the content of Web pages developed
to display students’ work. These data were combined with the interview data,
coded similarly, and analyzed so that themes emerged over the course of the
study.
These themes showed that administrative support, ready access to
technology including the Internet, and collaborative colleagues created supportive
contexts for participating teachers. In addition, the relatively low-risk
environment of online communication, the willingness of participating subject
matter experts and teachers to share personal information, and the support of
Electronic Emissary facilitators created supportive online contexts. The nature of
persistence in participants’ use of telementoring in their classroom practice was
closely linked to their teaching philosophies, their goals for students, previous
successes with telementoring, and the personal and professional benefits they
received from participating in telementoring projects. Findings suggest that
persistence may be predicated upon a supportive context, predicted benefits for
students, and congruence between an educational practice and teachers’ beliefs
about learning and teaching.